dna edit: Pawan Bansal's corruption offers UPA the chance to privatise railways

Corruption in the Indian Railways is a given. But the latest bribery scandal involving Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla, another relative Sandeep Goyal, a top railway official Mahesh Kumar and three others is scary because it pertains to the safety of passengers. Kumar wanted to control signalling tenders worth Rs50,000 crore for which he paid a bribe of Rs90 lakh to the Chandigarh-based millionaire Singla.

In his 2013-2014 railway budget speech, Bansal spoke about the continued thrust on improved signalling for “ensuring much better safety for train operations”. Two months later his ministry stands exposed for neglecting the safety of 18 million people who travel by train every day.

The lifeline of India is a death trap. Days after a mishap in Andhra Pradesh in 2012 in which at least 24 people were killed when a passenger train collided with a goods train, a BBC report said that train accidents claimed 1220 lives over the past five years.

Since the AP collision, there have been 8 train accidents, even as Bansal claimed that “the number of consequential train accidents per million train kilometre has decreased from 0.41 in 2003-04 to 0.13 at the end of 2011-12.” 2011 and 2012 together account for 29 mishaps.

Such abysmal track record for safety and corruption in the rank and file show that the Centre is incapable of running the railways. With each year, corruption has grown deeper roots among the 14-lakh people employed with the Railways.

In its 2011 annual report, the Central Vigilance Commission states that the Railways topped the list of government organisations against whom the maximum number of complaints of corruption were lodged.

In that year alone the CVC received over 8,800 complaints of graft against railway employees — 500 more compared to the 8330 in 2010. The 2010 figure registered an 80 per cent increase over the previous year.

Like most PSUs, the railways too has become a liability for the government. Its annual loss is a whopping Rs27,000 crore. When economies around the world are going for liberalisation, deregulation and competitiveness, India cannot sing a different tune, not at the cost of its economy.

By privatising the railways, India can turn the third largest in the world into a profitable entity. Several countries such as Japan, China, the US, the UK and Argentina have already shown the way. Before privatisation, Argentina was losing more than US$1 billion a year.

Our country can draw up a model that works best for it. It can implement reforms in a phased manner and seek international expertise in this regard.

But if it creates road blocks for investors with too many rules and regulations, then the whole purpose will be defeated.

True, after privatisation, passenger fares will shoot up. But if the government loves the poor, it can utilise a part of its profits to keep ticket prices cheap for those who travel in general compartments.

Leave alone profits, if the railways  can save Rs27,000 crore annually, the Centre can spend that amount to improve the lives of billions of poor. Most villages in India lack electricity, drinking water, roads and educational institutions. Agriculture, the biggest source of employment for India, needs government attention. 

The Centre cannot afford to wait any longer. It has already done enough damage by allowing money to be pumped into a terminally-ill behemoth.

This scam gives it an alibi to start the cleaning-up process. If it pays heed to forces opposing the move, it can never attain the political will to bring about a lasting change.